Scouting For Girls

Scouting For Girls have been one of the major success stories of 2007. Without the merest sniff of hype, they've become chart stars thanks to their summer pop hit 'She's So Lovely'. With more hooks than Pirate Blackbeard's galleon and catchier choruses than anything Kylie or Girls Aloud have bothered to release this year, they've been selling out tours and producing show-stealing festival slots like they're going out of fashion. We caught up with lead singer Roy Stride to chat about writing big pop hits, competing with X Factor winners and Pete Doherty's hair.

Your new single 'Elvis Ain't Dead' is coming out soon. It's an odd title - what's it all about?
"Lyrically, the song came out of a magazine feature. I was reading this article about borderline wackos in America who honestly believe that Elvis is still alive. I thought it was quite a good metaphor for unrequited love and people who are deluded enough to believe that someone who's left them will come back."

How do you go about writing your songs? They always seem to have these slightly quirky reference points.
"Love is such a hard thing to write about, especially as a bloke in a band. The way I've always approached it is to do it from a quirky angle, to try and do things a bit differently - there's not a lot of love songs about Elvis, for instance. A lot of the stuff is about early love as well, where people are falling in love and trying to get their heads round it. I try to come up with different ways of talking about things that have been sung a million times before over the last 100 years."

Were you worried about following up a hit as big as 'She's So Lovely'?
"Not really, no. 'She's So Lovely' being such a big hit was as much a surprise to us as it was to anyone else. People who've bought the album tend to say that their favourite track isn't 'She's So Lovely', and they keep telling us to release other singles. I think there's loads more singles on the album. It's just wicked that we have these hits now for when we play live. This new tour is our first headline tour since 'She's So Lovely' was a hit, so when we play these shows and half the room know all the lyrics already, it's properly nuts."

How do you know when you've got a big pop hit on your hands?
"I really enjoy writing really big pop songs. That's the music I've always liked listening to and admired. You can sometimes tell within a second of it coming up: that hook just hits you. That's the magical bit with songwriting. Other times you have to wait a while and let different people hear it, and you just can't tell. It's funny though, because 'She's So Lovely' just started out as a little joke with that chorus. You can also tell a big hit from the reaction when you play it live. We've been playing a B-side called 'You Are Fitter In My MySpace Picture', which lots of people are going nuts about even though they've never heard it before."

You've sold a lot of records very fast. Are you concerned about being on the receiving end of a critical backlash?
"It's always going to happen if you're lucky enough to be in the position of being popular. We make big, straight-down-the-line pop tunes and there's always going to be people who dislike you for that. As soon as you get a set of people that are giving you a backlash, you know you've made it in a way."

This time last year, did you ever think you could be competing for the Christmas number one spot?
"This time last year I was working in a shop, and when you do that at Christmas time, it's the worst time in the world. You really don't look forward to it. You get all these animal people coming in buying s**t and it really depressed me. This year will be the first Christmas for eight years where none of us have been working in a shop. Having a song out just before Christmas is cool."

What would you say to people to persuade them to buy your single over the X Factor winner's song?
"I'd just say go for whichever song you prefer. I think the worst thing about The X Factor is that usually you've got someone who's ridiculously talented - like that Leona Lewis - and then they give them a pap song. They take these really talented people and give them bog-standard material that's made to appeal to bloody mums and stuff. That's the only thing that annoys me."

What are the best and worst things about being on tour all year?
"The favourite is just getting out to play. This is our first headline tour in a while and it's incredible to get the reactions we get every night. We played the festivals, which were ace, but the people didn't know who we were, and it was the same on the Just Jack tour. But now we're headlining it's a completely different ball game. The negatives... I'm trying to think. You don't get to see your mates back home and it does get a bit boring eating out every day. That's the only down side. I used to think in the old days, 'Oh I'll go out for a meal this week', whereas now I'd just love to go home and cook something decent."

What's been the most rock 'n' roll moment of your year?
"We did a radio show where we met Kelly Jones from Stereophonics and the Manic Street Preachers. They were two of my favourite bands when I was getting into music, but they just looked bemused and uncomfortable. I didn't have the guts to say anything! Next time I will. Oh and we also met Pete Doherty at Transmission! He was really nice, but he's enormous - about 6ft 4! He was just getting his hair done."

Pete Doherty doesn't look like the sort of chap that goes to get his hair cut. You'd imagine he shaves it himself!
"I think he was having a bit of make-up. There's an exclusive for you!"

Have you had any problems with over-friendly fans yet?
"We've had people who travelled around with us and came to all our gigs. They made us a little bit nervous at the start, but we're actually really good friends with them now. They find it a bit incredulous now we're playing in front of thousands of people, because they watched us when there used to be just six people in the crowd. But there's been no real nutters so far - none that we can talk about anyway."

Is there any chance of some new material in the near future?
"I'm recording already. I'm trying to get it all demoed-up while we're on tour. That's what we did with the last album and then we just added on some re-recorded stuff. I'd love to do another album, but it takes so f***ing long man. They're planning the next single for March and then it will be all the festivals, so I don't think we'll get a chance until at least around Christmas. It's nuts."

Scouting For Girls' new single 'Elvis Ain't Dead' is released on December 17.

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